Up to now, the consumption of energy and water in pasteurization installations, such as a tunnel pasteurization installation, have only been measured and recorded, it was, however, up to the operator to use these information to analyze and evaluate the performance of the pasteurization installation. This was rarely done more than once or twice per year. Moreover, it was up to the operator to determine which values are still acceptable, or which values possibly indicate a malfunction of the pasteurization installation. Resource losses, for example loss of energy and water, were accordingly bound to occur.
One aspect of the disclosure is to provide a method for monitoring the function of a pasteurization installation and a pasteurization installation equipped with a corresponding device for monitoring the function, by means of which the function of the pasteurization installation can be quickly and simply monitored and malfunctions can be detected early.
The device according to the disclosure forms an early warning system for a possible malfunction of components by means of which resource consumption can be determined and compared to a theoretical expected value. The disclosure permits to employ a mathematical model which determines a malfunction of the installation long before the operator has gathered sufficient experience with the “normal” consumption of resources, such as energy and water, to be able to asses when an increased consumption is caused by an error in the installation. By the embodiment according to the disclosure, the mathematical model can be drawn up for the complete pasteurization installation, so that all (important) functions leading to increased resource consumption in case of a failure can be monitored. In this manner, the operator is able to take corrective measures early.
With the present disclosure, it is possible to automatically analyze and evaluate the current consumption and to emit a warning message as soon as a deviation between the actual value and the theoretical expected value of consumption can be detected, which is usually possible within one to two hours. By this, the operator is enabled to immediately correct a possible error of a component, thus avoiding a loss of resources, such as energy and water, over months.
Applied to a tunnel pasteurization installation comprising treatment zones through which the products, such as containers or, which will be presumed below, bottles, pass in a row, the current product temperature is calculated, based on a mathematical model for the product temperature, for each row of bottles in the tunnel pasteurization installation at an interval of seconds. This is in turn used to calculate the theoretical energy consumption.
The theoretical energy consumption for each row of bottles is added up for all rows of bottles in each zone of the tunnel pasteurization installation. This results in the theoretical energy consumption, positive or negative, for each zone. The theoretical energy consumption for each zone can be either negative or positive. If it is negative, it is converted into a theoretical water consumption for cooling. If it is positive, it is converted into a theoretical energy consumption for heating.
The resulting theoretical water and energy consumption for each zone is then in each case compared to the measured consumption of water and energy in this certain zone. If the actual consumption either of water or energy is higher than the theoretical consumption, an alarm message is displayed or generated.
This permits the operator to detect potential malfunctions of components or material failure much earlier than it is possible during the normal procedure. Usually, the water and energy balance of a pasteurization installation is monitored and analyzed once every two to three months. This leads to an energy or water consumption which is too high over a long period before the problem is detected and its cause is found and can be eliminated.
By the present disclosure, the pasteurization installation obtains a device by means of which excessive energy and water consumption can be detected within one day and suited countermeasures can be initiated to avoid extended energy and water loss.